Wire knotter



A. R. J. LUKE WIRE KNOTTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 8, 1952 5 L 9 f,i E OO y E \7 E 1 m 5, 2 MK J July 12, 1955 A. R. J. LUKE 2,712,838

WIRE KNOTTER Filed Aug. 8, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ffy. f2

INVENTOR.

BY W@ July 12, 1955 A. R. J. LUKE 2,712,838

WIRE KNOTTER Filed Aug. 8. 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 l @vr g 44 54 5 /3 i W7 8O ffy/4 60 f5 52/ 1 JNVENTOR. 4 f/Ze/'Z @d a/e 56 )film/nay A. R. J.LUKE WIRE KNOTTER July 12, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 8, 1952United States Patent() WIRE KNOTTER Albert R. J. Luke, Toronto, Ontario,Canada Application August 8, 1952, Serial No. 303,556 2 Claims. (Cl.140-115) This invention pertains to wire knotters or' the type used withhay balers or similar machines.

This application is a continuation-impart of my prior application filedMay 27, 1950, Serial No. 164,764, now abandoned, entitled Wire Knotter.

It is an object of this invention to provide a wire tying mechanismwhich will tie a knot in such a manner that it will not unwindregardless of the amount of tension under which the baled material isplaced and at the same time utilize comparatively light gauge wire.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wire tying mechanismwhich will produce a knot in which a twisted portion is formed on eitherside of a main twisting pinion, the twisted portions so formed are eachgiven an additional twist about an axis which is substantially 90 to thefirst twist by means of auxiliary pinions, the completed knots are thenseparated by a cutting means within the main pinion.

It is an object of this invention to provide a wire tying mechanismwhich will produce a knot that is rst twisted on one axis and thentwisted about a second axis which is substantially 90 to the rst, thusforming a very tight knot, each leg of which is wound around the other.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a method for tyinga wire knot in which, two strands of wire are twisted together at spacedlocations along their length about one axis, the twisted portions soformed are given an additional twist about an axis which issubstantially 90 from the rst, the two knots so formed are separated bysevering the two strands of wire between the knots.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosureprogresses. Accordingly the present invention may be considered ascomprising the various constructions, combinations, or sub-combinationsof parts as is hereinafter more fully set forth in the detaileddescription and in the claims, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bale before the knot is started showing thebale as positioned in the. baling chamber.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the bale after the needle arm has brought thewire across to the knotter from the opposite side of the bale.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the bale after the knot is completed.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the main twisted pinion showing one of thewires in position.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the main twisting pinion with both wires inplace.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the main twisting pinion after it has made onecomplete revolution.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the main twisting pinion after it has one and ahalf revolutions.

Fig. 8 is the same as Figure 7 but showing the two auxiliary twistingpinions.

Fig. 9 is an elevational view of the device as shown in Figure 8.

2,712,538 Patented July 12, 1955 Fig. 10 is the completed knot.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken on line 11-11 of Figure 8 showing thecutter disc and spring.

Figure 12 is an elevational View partially in section, showing theknotter frame and driving means.

Fig. 13 is an elevational view partially in section, taken on line 13-13of Figure 12.

Fig. 14 is a plan view in section taken on line 14-14 of Figure 12.

Fig. 15 is a sectional view of an auxiliary twisting pinion taken online 15-15 of Figure 16.

Fig. 16 is a plan view in section taken on line 16-16 of Figure 14.

Referring more particularly to Figures l, 2, and 3 the baling chamber 1has two coils of wire 2, 2 located on opposite sides thereof. Theknotter proper is located at one side of the chamber in the general area3. The wire from the opposite side of the chamber is fed into theknotter by means of a needle arm (not shown) which is old in the art andis deemed to need no furtherV explanation here.

Figure 4 shows the main twisting pinion 4 in the position it ordinarilyoccupies while the bale is being formed, having the wire 5 from coil 2lying in the longitudinal groove 6 as the baie is formed in thecharnber. When the proper amount of hay is in the chamber, the mainpinion 4 is caused to revolve one-half of a revolution, and needle arms(not shown) having a pair of spaced rollers on the end of the needlebring the wire 7 from coil 2 across the end of the bale 8 and place thewire in groove 9 of the pinion. Main pinion 4 is then caused to make acomplete revolution forming the wire as shown in Figures 7 and 8 intotwo twists 10 and 11. The pinion 4 is of su'icient diameter so thetwisted portions formed thereby are of such length as to accommodate theauxiliary pinions 12, 13 which are presently to be described.

After the main pinion 4 has made one revolution, the two auxiliarypinions 12 and 13 are brought into their respective concave recesses orslots 14 and 15 in pinion 4, the radial slots 24 and 25 of the auxiliarypinions tting over the two twists 10 and 11 and then caused to rotate,thus forming knots 16 and 17. lt will be noted that the second twistsimparted by the auxiliary pinions 12, 13 arevabout an axis which is 90to the common axis, i. e., the axis of main pinion 4, about which thefirst twists 10, 11 were formed. In forming the .second twists, theauxiliary pinions tightly wind each leg of the pairs of legs 10a-10b,10c-10d, 11a-11b and 11e-11d of the original twists 10, 11 respectively,about the other. This twisting of each leg about the other offersconsiderable resistance to unwinding under tension.

By increasing the ratio of the diameter of gear 36 to the diameter ofsegment gear 34', i. e., making gear 36 smaller or making segment gear34 larger and consequently increasing the length of elective tooth area,main pinion 4 can be caused to rotate an additional revolution andthereby put an additional turn in the first twisted portions lil and 11.v

The knots 16 and 17 are separated as follows. A hardened disc 18 isrotatably-mounted in main pinion 4 which, as can be seen in Fig. 16, is'made up of two halt" sections. Pin 19, which is ixedly mounted in themain pinion 4, normally holds the disc 18 in its inoperative positionagainst the pressure of the spring 2Q. When it is desired to separatethe knots, the dog 21 acts on notch 22 of the disc 18 causing the discto rotate through a small arch thus severing the wires by the action ofthe hardened disc jaws 23 against the hardened jaws formed by thegrooves 6 and 9 of the pinion. rhus two knots are formed, one on thebale just completed and the other,

shown at the lower left hand corner of the bale in Fig. 1, astens thetwo wires together to form the beginning of the next bale loop. Thusthere are two knots formed for each loop but only one operation of theVknetterY is` required per loop. ,All of thel wire isv utilized and thereare no free ends or particles otwireleft in the bale or inthe eld. Y

The operation of theknotter for a complete cycle is as follows. Thisknotter ties two knots at theA same time (two loops per bale) and asthe1 mechanism is identical in structure and operationv for both theupper and lower knotter, reference will be made to one or the otherinthis description with the understanding that they are identical,

While the bale is being formed, wires, from coils 2. and 2 mounted onthe baler, frameare lying in groovest), 34) (Figure 13). They are pulledalong untiljthel trip (not shown), which is operated by a metering wheelwell known in the art, put the mechanism into operation,

In Fig. l2, the` shaft 32,which is rotatably/,mounted in the knotterframe 33, Ais caused to turn by the trip mechanism through a bevel gear(not shown) at the top of the shaft. Secured to the shaft 32 are twosegment gears 34 and 34 which drive pinionv 36 and thevcorrespendingVpinion (not shown) for they top knotter.

Mounted on the same shaft 58 as pinion 36 is the: gear 40 and for eachcycle of the knetter they make one revolution as does shaft 32. The mainpinion 4 is turned 11/2 revolutions by gear 40 for each cycle aspreviously described, causing` the twist in the wire as shown by Figure7. At this time the main pinion4 stops' turning due to the dwell portionof the segment gear 34.

The means for swinging the auxiliary pinions 12 and 13 into workingposition and rotating them will now be described. Secured to the driveshaft 32 (Figure 12) isl a bevel gear 42, which drives through bevelgear 44, shaft 46, bevel gear 48, and bevel gear 5i? to rotatethe cam;shaft 52 (Figure 14) which is secured to bevel gear Sil andV rotatablyYmounted in thek knotter framev members` 54 and 56. During the entireknotting cycle, the cam shaft is continually rotated and the cams 58-and 60 are so designed that they are inoperative until` theA main pinion4 stops turning. In Figure 16 isshownthe lower auxiliary twistingpinions ,24, 25 in the openY position and the top ones 12, 13 intheclosed positioniorthe-sake oiillustra tion. In practice, however, theycould all twist at the sameA time and it would be impossible forl thearms 62, V63,

64 and 65 to assume the position shownr` in FigureV 16` as;

arms 62,y and 63am of one piece and diagonally opposite each other andboth are in the closed (or open) position atfthe same time. The sameisgtrue of arm-s 64,and 6,5,

The cam 53 bears against the roller 67 ofrthe pair of arms 64, 65 andthe cam 6i) (Figure. 13) bears against, the rollerl 69y of arms 62, 63,thus forcing the auxiliary gears in andl out of working position. Whenin the operative position, the grooves 24 and 25 of, the auxiliarypinions straddle the twist 19 and 11 in the wire at either side of;mainV pinion 4.

At this time, segment gear 71 (Figure14) starts to turn gear 73 which isrotatably mounted on shaft 75, The auxiliary twisting pinions 12, 13Vare driven by gear 73 through idler gears 77 (Figure 16) which areVrotatably mounted on arms 62, 63,764 and 65 and arel in constant meshwith the auxiliary pinions 12, 13 and the gear73.

Auxiliary uinions 12 and 13 make two revolutionsper cycle and producethe knotshown in FigureA 10.

The cutting disc 18 previously described is operated as follows. Mountedon the lower portion Si) of gear 73 areV two segment cams 82 (Figures 12and'13) which push on rollers v84 which are rotatably mounted in dogs21. f After the auxiliary pinions have been rotated to produce thefinished knot, the cams 32 push this dog 21 into contact with the notch22` in` the. disc 18 and rotates it enough to shear the wires. Thespring 20 then returns the disc to the non-operative position. The wiresare thus freed from. the knotterr-vhiclr isr then in positionfto startthrough another cycle when, actuated by the metering wheel and trippreviously mentioned;

Having thus shown and described my invention, 1 claim:

l. ln a wire knotter a common frame member, a main twisting pinionrotatably mounted on said memberand having two diametrically opposedradial Slots tor receiving two sections of wire, gear: meansV rotatablymounted on said; frame member for rotating said main pinion; thusforming4 a, twisted portion at' eitherside of said main/pin:` ion,auxiliary twisting pinions shiftablyf mounted onsa'rdL frame member.each hav-ing a radial slot to straddie the said twistedk portions ateither' side of said, mainpinion, arm meansl swingably. mounted onv saidframe` to swing said auxiliary pi-nions into: a` position to straddle.said.- twisted portions and return; them to an inoperative position,gear means,rotatably mounted on said frame; torotate saidv auxiliarypinions while they areintheoperative position, a cutting disc rotatablymounted in saidmain. pinion andhaving radial slots cooperating with saidslots oi the main pinion to sever the wires, meansv mounted oir saidtra-mel to-rotate, said cutting disc after said auxliiiaryv pinions havebeen rotated.

2. In a wire knotter, a common frame member, a, main twisting pinionrotatably mounted, therein and'having two diametrically opposed radialslotsv forv receiving two sec-- tions of wire, gearv means rotatablymounted in said trame' for rotating said main pinion and thereby forminga twisted portion atV either sidey of'saidA main pinion, auxiliarypinions swingably mounted on said frame andhav-A ing a radial slot*Vadapted to `straddle said twisted portions,

arm means swingably mounted onsaid frame member to swing said auxiliaryVpinions .in and out of operative posi-` tion, gearI means rotatablymounted on said frame mem-y ber to rotate said auxiliary: pinions whileVin the operativel position, a cutting disc,V rotatably mounted in saidmain, pinion havng twoy radial slots forl cooperating with said radialslots of said main pinion, means mounted on said. trame-for rotatingsaid disc to sever the wires after said auxiliary. pinions havel beenrotated.

ReferencesV Cited inthe ille of this patent Y UNl'TED STATES PATENTS

